The cutter is attached to and is pulled behind a tractor that powers the cutter. In this regard, a gearbox on the cutter connects to the power take-off (PTO) of the tractor, which provides rotation to the gearbox. The gearbox translates the rotation from the PTO to rotary cutting blades that cut grass and other ground vegetation.
Prior art rotary cutters typically comprise flat cutting decks and rigid frames that attach the cutting decks to the tractor. The flat shape of the decks required that large flat plates of metal be used for the deck base. The cutter according to the present disclosure comprises a concave cutting deck whose concave shape provides rigidity of the deck. The concave deck is comprised of three curved deck plates welded to two supports running longitudinally down the deck. The deck design does not require a large contiguous metal plate, but rather uses smaller deck plates, thus reducing the cost of the decking materials.
In a prior art cutter, the lift arm assembly, which connects to a three point hitch of a tractor, is rigidly affixed to the deck. A three point hitch is an attachment on the rear of a tractor known by persons of skill in the art for attaching equipment to the tractor. A prior art cutter which is rigidly affixed to the tractor does not commonly flex or rotate to maintain the cutting blades in close proximity to the grass.
The cutter according to the present disclosure comprises a pivoting brace frame that allows flexing of the deck in two different ways. First, the cutter uses swiveling linkages to make the two connections between the cutting deck and bottom two legs of the three point hitch. These linkages permit rotation of the deck with respect to the bottom legs. The swiveling linkages allow the entire cutting deck to move with respect to the hitch, and allow side-to-side pivoting of about 10-15 degrees. Due to the swiveling linkages, when the cutter mows through a ditch, for example, one linkage may rotate up and the other down, so the deck will tilt and maintain the blade in closer proximity to the grass.
Second, the lift frame comprises a top pivot that allows the hitch to rotate in the longitudinal direction, such that the lift frame can pivot backwards.
For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein.